Wanna know why the good old US of A never went back to the moon? Well dive into this found footage (edited together by Patrick Lussier no less) of the top secret Apollo 18 mission that went down and went wrong in the 70's... you'll know why!

THE LOWDOWN

I just got back from Apollo 18 and after trying to visit www.lunartruth.com (site won't load...damn government interference...wink...wink) I started checking out what peeps thought of it online and to my surprise, pretty much everybody is taking a huge, Cowboy beans induced dump on it. So once again, I will me the odd man out and say I dug it! It was Blair Witch Project in space without the gooey snot! Yes this was a mockumentary; and for anybody that thought that this was real and that the US government would actually let anything like this ever be released for mass consumption; well I got some Kurt Cobain concert tickets to sell ya! Shoot me an e-mail! I need the dough!

Now as opposed to say Paranormal Activity 2 which bored me to tears while insulting my minuscule intelligence for an hour a and a half; APOLLO 18 actually had me hooked the whole way and although it never uppercut me to send me to the mat, I found myself to be entertained by it on various degrees. I was sold by its look; I believed that these dudes were in space and consequently doing the doo on the surface of the moon. Maybe there were gaps in logic in terms of the "Astronaut How To Guide", but the f*ck I knew! I'm a regular dude that hangs out in Pubs way too much and that attracts trouble (and STDs), hence the ins and outs of say when there should or shouldn't be any gravity in a Space Pod was beyond my reach. What I did know is that director Gonzalo López-Gallego (in his first English film) doubled down on the creepiness with his potent shots, editor Patrick Lussier's visceral cutting gave this space-puppy a tight/unsettling vibe to it and the sets/production designs came off as genuine to this simpleton. So yup, once everything started to go tits up; I was in for the ride, for better and for worse. Another ace in this one's deck was the “actors” on hand... they owned it. Although the characters didn't get enough development for my liking, the grounded/organic performances and the “real” feel of it all kind of made up for that. I felt for them dudes and "Damn, that sucks for them!" escaped out of my yapper many o times! NOTE: Did every Astronaut in the 70's have a BBQ with friends and balls and chains before launching? Feels like I've seen that scenario a bazillion times before. For all I know it was a US tradition. Talk to me! END OF NOTE.

What about the scares you may ask? Well the flick had a spooky aura about it the whole way through; either visually or through some brrr inducing sound designs. I also felt “some” tension now and again, but alas apart from a couple of easy boo scares, the whole was surprisingly low in that department. The same went for the WHAT behind the horror; I was expecting something a tad more original than what we got. But to be fair, it was still well done and it randomly opened up a case of the willies on my ass. I appreciated that! Moreover, the pace was tighter than a virgin's muff and the ending was a swell throwback to the types of cap-offs we used to get in the time period this flick was set in; the 70's. On the whole; Apollo 18 didn’t blow me away by any means; but a cool, randomly engrossing and on/off chilling little mockumentory? YES! I'll remember this one and will recommend it as a decent Saturday night spookfest to tap with your better half, or the token bootie call of the week. So you gonna get in on this mission or what?

GORE

We get one icky graphic moment and that was that on that when it came to that!

T & A

I was thinking of topless strippers with their tops on during the end credits. Does that count?

BOTTOM LINE

APOLLO 18 was a well greased and “real” feeling mockumentory with sturdy production designs, convincing sets, actors on top of their shit, a moderate creepy factor and a couple of back-handing horror bits. Yes I wished there was more suspense in there, more honest scares and the WHAT behind it all felt beyond been there done that; but hey it was still well done and I was still amused... all that matters in my little bubble of a world. I gotta say it, it kind of makes me smirk to see it bashed so hard by the same peeps that sucked Paranormal Activity 2's tiny dick, but I digress... to each his own right? Right. I say see it on DVD, shut the lights, crack a beer open and enjoy! It will go down better at home than on the big screen in my opinion. Hope ya dig!

BULL'S EYE

Timur Bekmambetov (Wanted) produced the flick.

The actors playing the 3 leads are named: Warren Christie, Lloyd Owen and Ryan Robbins.

The screenplay was written by Brian Miller who also penned the "Mars Mission gone wrong" short flick: Paracusia.

Technically well made Sci-Fi thriller.

The concept of three astronauts going to the moon to be shot as a 16mm documentary style is the highpoint of this flawed Science Fiction with an few hints of horror.

The movie is actually well produced on a low budget, imaginative at times and occassionally tense. The unknown actors are pretty good, especially Lloyd Owen as the astronaut, who gets infected by the mysterious rock-shaped alien.

The biggest flaw in the movie is the script, which could have explored the extraterrials living

The concept of three astronauts going to the moon to be shot as a 16mm documentary style is the highpoint of this flawed Science Fiction with an few hints of horror.

The movie is actually well produced on a low budget, imaginative at times and occassionally tense. The unknown actors are pretty good, especially Lloyd Owen as the astronaut, who gets infected by the mysterious rock-shaped alien.

The biggest flaw in the movie is the script, which could have explored the extraterrials living in the movie more. Which made the movie unsastifing to some degree, which the film has some plot holes and you can tell by watching the picture, it was a tough movie to edited. Which it was occassionally confusing at times.

Fans of Science Fiction movies will be more forgiving with the flaws of this ambitious feature. The blu-ray has an good picture and sound quality with some intriguing deleted scenes and an running commentary track by the filmmakers.